MURDER mystery novelist, Cath Staincliffe, is proving so popular with readers around the world that her work may find its way onto the big screen.

Cath, from West Didsbury, features female private detective, Sal Kilkenny, in all her books, including her latest offering, The Towers of Silence, published this month.

The books are popular in France and Germany, and have also found a strong following in the United States.

Now Sal, a mum with two kids living in Withington as well as a detective, is being touted as a potential hit on celluloid.

She said: "It's something that's being pursued by my agent.

"There's been a lot interest from film companies in the States."

Cath reckons her depiction of the exciting sleuth, against the backdrop of a more mundane family setting, could prove to be the mix that audiences want.

Although the character is not auto-biographical, she inhabits the same world as Cath herself.

This includes areas familiar to Reporter readers such as Withington and Manchester City Centre.

Cath even paid several visits to Alderley Edge, the setting for the final scene in Towers of Silence so that her descriptions of trees and buildings rang true.

She added: "I really enjoy that side of writing the books, of reflecting the city itself.

"It's a little bit like adding to the historical records. In the first books, I described the tram lines being built, and now, in the latest book, there's the Commonwealth Games, and the work going on in East Manchester."

And she says there is so much local detail in the novel that tourists have been snapping up copies to take as souvenirs of their visit to Manchester.

Cath's writing skills have been spotted by Granada. The company has been employed to write a script for a television drama about a female detective.

She also belongs to The Whodunnit Club a collection of northern writers who write crime novels and travel around together performing readings for devoted fans.